Public Consultation meeting in Thika almost turns chaotic as members reject hefty Kiambu rates.

Tempers flared at the Thika Community Hall as members of Public protested some MCAs' intention to gag them into endorsing the Kiambu County 2018-2019 Finance Bill without making their own submissions.

Thika residents have
rejected hefty rates and charges proposed by the Kiambu County Government in
their 2018-2019 Finance Bill.

The meeting that was
held at the Thika Community Hall on Wednesday morning was at one time reduced
to a shouting match when the members of public accused members of the County
Assembly of forcing them into endorsing the 100% increment in fees, rates,
levies and charges as proposed in the Bill.

Tempers flared when
a local MCA shouted down one member of public who had questioned the rationale
used by the Kiambu Finance CEC to arrive at the new rates. The MCA accused the
participants of introducing politics into the matter adding that they were used
to ‘his theatrics’ and wouldn’t allow him to ‘spoil’ the meeting.

The MCA’s sentiments
elicited very angry reaction in the hall, a situation that threatened to
disrupt the whole exercise.

Having read the mood
in the hall, the MCAs changed tact and allowed the members of public to freely
express their views and reservations against the Bill.

When calm was
restored, it was unanimously agreed that they would not endorse the 100% increments
but rather all of them be capped to only 10%.

The members also
agreed to scrap all new levies and fees that had been introduced in the 2018 Kiambu
County Finance Bill.

“Thika Contributes
to more than 60% of Kiambu County revenue and we therefore cannot allow the
county government to impose such levies on us without consulting us. Any new
proposed levies should be scrapped and the rest be capped to only 10%
increment,” said Alfred Wanyoike the

Chairman Thika District Business
Association (TDBA).

His sentiments were
echoed by John Mwangi Njuguna who is the Personal Assistant to Thika Town MP
Eng. Patrick Wainaina who advised the county government to streamline their
revenue collection strategies instead of overburdening their people with
outrageous fees and charges.

“We have no problem
with even paying the 100% (increments) as proposed but our question is, will we
get value for our money? All we are demanding is service delivery from the
county government that is reflective of what we pay for their services,” said
Kariuki.

In response, the Kiambu
assembly Vice Chairman of the Finance, Budget and Appropriation Committee Hon. John
Ngure Muthondu assured Thika residents that all their views would be taken into
account when the Bill will be tabled in the house for deliberations.

He however notified them
that their views would not be actualised in isolation as they had to be harmonised
with those from all the other eleven sub-counties to come up with a proposal
that reflected the views of all Kiambu residents.

“We will have to
harmonise the submissions from all the 12 sub-counties to come up with a report
that is reflective of the views of all Kiambu residents,” he said.

Thika Township MCA
Andrew Ndirangu Kimani said that, as the people’s representatives, they will
ensure that the residents’ will prevailed and they would recommend amendments
to the bill to rhyme with what the people want.

Among those in
attendance included Hospital MCA Danson Mburu, Kamenu MCA Raphael Chege
Waithumbi, members of the Kiambu County assembly Finance, Budget and
Appropriation Committee, a Thika-based counselling psychologist Gladys Chania
Mwangi and chairpersons of various business associations and groups.